Freezing Temperatures Bring Ice & Christmas Lights

Sapphire Window Cleaning does have a plan to keep their water from turning into a block of ice.

Tulsa window cleaners not looking forward to freezing temperatures (TULSA, Oklahoma) — Folks that work outside aren't looking forward to the frigid temperatures. David Vieira owns Sapphire Window Cleaning. He tells his crews to bundle up, but that only goes so far. Vieira says, "There's no real good way to keep your hands dry when you're working with water like that." The guys at Sapphire have a work-around. Vieira says, "You just use a lot of gloves and throw them up on the dash to dry between jobs." Sapphire Window Cleaning does have a plan to keep their water from turning into a block of ice. Crews use an alcohol-based cleaner which keeps it from freezing.

John Riley in Toronto work up this morning to find a frozen pail with his window cleaning tools.

John Riley of Rileys' Window Cleaning was quite surprised to find his bucket with wand & squeegee frozen up this morning when he left his pail out over night. Rileys' continue to serve all the neighbourhoods of Toronto, including Leaside, Forest Hill, Rosedale, North York, the Beach and others, are expanding in to Markham, Unionville and the surrounding areas.

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Christmas lights on the Bankers & Traders Insurance Brokers Inc. building in Glenora.

Hire a pro to string seasonal lights - Lots of time to get ready for guests: Of course you should have started in August. But back then you didn't know that your newly single sister-inlaw and her children would be coming for a multi-day visit this Christmas, or that your mother would break her hip and be unable to stand, let alone host a house full of guests. So you're up. But your house needs some quick adjustments to make it welcoming.

It's easy to produce an appealing aura around your home at this time of year: install dazzling outdoor Christmas lights to define your roof's lines and peaks. They'll warm the bleak winter sky with glowing colours that cheer you and your neighbours.

But the combination of bitter cold of Canada's winters, slippery ladders and today's taller homes can make setting up seasonal lights fraught with risk. That's why many people are turning to professionals. "Most of the people who hire us are either seniors that no longer can hang their own Christmas lights, or it's people who, for the most part, are scared to be on the roof, and aren't willing to invest in a safety harness and a thousand dollars worth of ladders," says Chris Jorgenson of family-owned Canada Yard Pro.

While it started out in lawn maintenance and snow removal, Canada Yard Pro has found business climb steadily for its Christmas-light installation services in Edmonton, Calgary and beyond. A typical installation will have light strings that follow the architectural lines of your house. The charge to put lights in place is determined by the linear foot. Removal of lights at the end of the season is an additional charge. You can rent the lights, saving you maintenance costs and storage space, or you can purchase them.

The full package for a two-storey home is typically about $500. But some installations can cost thousands of dollars, especially when you have lights wrapped around your outdoor "Christmas tree." "There are two ways of doing a Christmas tree," says Kris Schindel of Heights Residential, founded as a window-cleaning business by a group of Edmonton musicians and actors about 20 years ago, and in the past five years expanded to install Christmas lights, too.

One way to do a tree, says Schindel, "is when you're able to reach it from the ground with poles." That normally applies to trees less than 20 feet (six metres) tall, and will cost $200 to $300, including the light rental. The other way is to use a man-lift, and that's when the price starts to spiral upwards: expect to spend about $1,000 for the installation, and another $1,000 to buy the lights.

Some homeowners don't stop at simple light installations, but go all out, synchronizing their light displays to music broadcast by a localized FM frequency. You'll have to shop around for the special equipment to drive it all. CLG Displays specializes in complex installations, mainly for corporate and government clients. It also provides animated video simulations of its proposed installations so the customer knows exactly what to expect.

Regardless of scale , you should ensure the company you choose to install it has liability insurance and covers employees with workers' compensation insurance. Without it, Jorgenson says, "people are really heading for a possible issue if anything happens on their property."

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Window Cleaning Employers/Employees Despair

Red Rock Window Cleaning was founded in 1998 by Coby Powell (center) starting out as a one man operation.

ICE Going After Businesses Who May Have Illegal Workers, LAS VEGAS: The federal government is paying much more attention these days to illegal workers, and if an employer makes a simple paperwork error, it can really cost them. Over the past four years the number of businesses in the U.S. being audited by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has more than quadrupled. ICE is cracking down on Las Vegas businesses who hire illegal workers, but also some just failed to accurately fill out forms. Across the country, ICE has fined businesses roughly $9 million just this fiscal year. Some of the companies that are in trouble are knowingly breaking the law, but others who work hard to stay in compliance say something as simple as missing a signature is costing them big.

"We were scared at first. Some authority with a badge came in, so we were scared at first but we thought we were in compliance and had all our documents in place," said Coby Powell (pictured) with Red Rock Window Cleaning. It was a costly visit Powell never expected. Without notice, an officer from ICE just walked into his office and said his window washing business was being investigated. "They didn't give any reason as to why they came, they just came in. She was very polite, they talked to us and said get the information for this investigation," he said. Immediately Powell turned over all the I-9 forms requested by ICE. Every employer, like Red Rock Window Washing, is required by law to fill out I-9's when hiring workers to verify their identity and employment eligibility. Powell thought he had everything in order.

"Though we had all the information, almost all the information needed to fill out the I-9's, we didn't transfer that information on the I-9 and sign it and sign the dotted line at the bottom that we verified everything and everything was in compliance with the form," he said. Powell was fined $25,000 -- $1,000 for each form, for each employee. "The employers are always shocked. They have no idea why this is happening, they don't understand what's going on," said immigration attorney Gus Fountas.

Fountas says he's seen the number of U.S. businesses being investigated and fined by ICE rise dramatically over the last two years. "They are taking it more seriously that employers should not be violating the law at all and that employers will be held accountable," he said. "Go through your HR files, ensure your I-9's are filled out, verify employees with cards and expiration dates that you re-verify those," said Powell. The president of Red Rock Window Cleaning shared his story because he wants to let other businesses know that ICE means business, and even if you think you're in compliance, go over your records with a fine-tooth comb. The enforcement is all part of President Barack Obama's policy to crack down on immigration issues.

Employer: ‘We can’t hire 99 percent of the people who apply’ - Today, we explore the other side of the unemployment issue and how hard it is for employers to find qualified, competent and, as you will see, reasonably intelligent employees to join the workforce.

‘This is what we’re up against’ Another company’s owner allowed me to go behind the scenes in his hiring process. I viewed application after application and came away shaking my head in disbelief. Mistakes. Misspellings. Misdemeanors. I couldn’t believe they were genuine applications, but they were. “We can’t hire 99 percent of the people who apply. I’d be out of business in a heartbeat,” said Don Markovich, owner of Bren-Mark Window Cleaning Service in Valparaiso. “The applications we receive on a daily basis are a sight to behold.”

His company uses an online hiring system for applications, including about 20 minutes of questions, explained to me by office manager Candy Smith, who has the daunting task of interviewing some of the knuckleheads who apply — if they even show up for the interview. “We can always upgrade our staff, and we’re interviewing every week, but this is what we’re up against,” she said while guiding me through the website’s application system.

The incredibly detailed system shows red boxes for “warning” or “weak” and green boxes for “clear” or “interested.” I saw many more red boxes than green ones on most people’s application. I literally laughed out loud at some of the applicants’ responses and they had to be rejected even though the company could receive a sizeable tax break if they were hired. For instance, under the question, “What SKILLS do you bring to this job?” one woman responded, “My smile.” In the comment section of her (rejected) application, Markovich wrote, “Smiles don’t clean windows.”

“I’m tired of hearing about how nobody’s hiring,” he told me. “It’s important that the general public understand there ARE businesses hiring and willing to pay good wages.” “We, like many other businesses, are limited not by our skills or motivation, but by the number of quality employees we can find,” he added. “Every time the president and Congress extend the unemployment benefits, our labor market keeps sitting on their collective ass. Why should they start a job that starts them out at what they are collecting on unemployment? Even though they can make two to three times that within three to four months, they don’t care. They will wait until the benefits run out before looking for a job.”

The downside to today’s column is obvious: “There is an incredible amount of people who are, for all intents and purposes, not employable,” Markovich said flatly. (On Monday, between noon and 1 p.m., Markovich will offer first-hand tips and insights for job-seekers on my weekly radio show on WVLP, 98.3-FM, www.wvlp.org.)

The upside of all this incompetance? This should inspire all those other job-seekers who are honest, credible, qualified, competent, intelligent and professional. And, if anything, the Darwinian culling of the job-applicant herd should eventually work in your favor if you learned anything today from Markovich and Pearman. “Sorry, America. I was never in favor of the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ mentality,” Markovich said. “Just because you helped clean up a work site for $12 an hour doesn’t qualify you as a carpenter. And if your education and skills say you are only able to stock shelves, then you are a stocker.” My suggestion to job seekers: For starters, review your resume, personalize your application approach and provide intelligent responses, spelled correctly. And save your smile for the interview, not the application.